Centring Women in Bollywood Biopics

Empowerment and Agency in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Chandrava Chakravarty, Sneha Kar Chaudhuri

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781032421902
• eBook ISBN: 9781040183359
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Gender Studies

This book explores the dramatic rise in popularity of the women's biopic in contemporary Bollywood, within the context of wider cultural shifts over the past decade.

Delving into the societal shifts reflected in the genre, both on and off screen, the book explores the contours of individual agency and the centring of women in Indian cinema. The book offers new insight into women-centric Hindi biopics, a fast-rising genre carving out a tradition of its own, with female directors and actors contributing to this rising postfeminist celebration of women's agency and individuality. The authors posit that the alternative narratives, created by Bollywood and accepted by mainstream audiences, have become a catalyst to elevate women or female actors to protagonists, without the need to conform to the sexist mores of mainstream Bollywood.

This book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and upper-level students in the areas of film studies, media industries, gender and feminism, and South Asian studies.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: The Women-Centric Bollywood
• 2 The Larger Context: Postfeminism in India and Women’s Biopics
• 3 Biopics of Female Sports Personalities in Bollywood
• 4 Women in Politics
• 5 Celebrity Culture and Select Bollywood Biopics
• 6 Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index